J&K: 24 return from Muzaffarabad

Twenty-four locals who had been to Muzaffarabad two days before the devastating quake to unite with the members of their divided families finally reached back Srinagar after walking the 2-kilometre stretch of road from Chakoti to the Kaman Post on the Pakistan side of Kashmir.

These passengers had to use the small footbridge laid by the authorities on the KDK stream over which the Aman Setu bridge stood before it was destroyed in the October 8 temblor.

Shafeeq Ahmad Kiani, the Chakoti relief commander accompanied the 24 returnees up to the Kaman Post. He told reporters that 19 Kashmiris from the Indian side were still in Muzaffarabad.

"We are trying to locate them and they would soon be sent back to their homes." Kiani, however, confirmed that two passengers of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service who travelled to Muzaffarabad October 6 had died in the October 8 devastation.

"I cannot believe I am back home safe. It is even more difficult to believe that all my family members here are safe. What we saw in Muzaffarabad is unbelievable," said Haji Mohammad Sidiq, one of the returnees.

Today's returnees include 18 men and 6 women. Of these, 19 persons belong to the Uri tehsil of north Kashmir Baramulla district, one to Teetwal village in border district Kupwara, one to Tangmarg town in Baramulla district and 3 to the Rajouri district in the Jammu region.